Marche Condo a Toronto Article La Presse

Read this and you'll be discouraged at how sleepy Montreal is. I think back to the Aubin article few weeks back where he questioned the three "tall" residential towers proposed or under construction. As someone noted on that thread it just demonstrates how slow things are here.

Thank you for sharing these renderings Maisonneuve. Proof that there are some awesome projects going up in Toronto. It's unfortunate that there are too many people in Montreal who are blind to this fact and enjoy spreading the false notion that nothing of interest is being built in Toronto and that it's still a boring town!

Thank you for sharing these renderings Maisonneuve. Proof that there are some awesome projects going up in Toronto. It's unfortunate that there are too many people in Montreal who are blind to this fact and enjoy spreading the false notion that nothing of interest is being built in Toronto and that it's still a boring town!

Toronto's an interesting place. I can say that can I?
I don't see why it has to be a zero sum game.
Why is it that someone from Montreal can't say that they like Toronto?
Why is it that if you say you love Montreal, people automatically assume you hate Toronto?
THESE are just stereotypes.

Though, I've noticed a similar (existential) insecurity living in Toronto these past 4 years. Torontonians hold the same feelings.
When they find out you're from Montreal, they assume two things:
1 - That you hate Toronto
2- That you're a Habs fan

And if you say you like both Montreal and Toronto, they'll respond by asking you: "But which one do you like more?"

I usually tell them TORONTO, just because I know if I say MONTREAL they might shrivel up into a fetal position and cry. Conversely, if I get asked that question in Montreal, I usually say TORONTO too, because I know Montrealers are secure enough with their city and know its flaws inside out. Some Torontonians have not developed that type of Mordecai Richler-like indifference to whether you like them or not.

And as someone who travels back and forth between Toronto and Montreal I always hear people on the train,bus, plane having this conversation:
Person A: "I love Montreal, it's so European. It's so different from Toronto."
Person B: "Yes, I know Toronto's so American and so boring. It's too conservative"
Person A: "Montreal is more laid back, more easy going, more fun"
Person B: "Yeah, Toronto's all about work, hustle and the grind."
Person A: "I moved there (Toronto) back in 1982 for work"
Person B: "Oh did you, really."
From there the conversation goes into the "Parti Quebecois+Bill 101+referendum = head offices+anglos with money, leaving town" conversation...as if the dynamics at play in Toronto overtaking Montreal as Canada's premier city only started in 1976 - but that's another story for another thread (in fact I wrote on this in another thread way back)

This never fails, regardless of if I take a train, bus or plane. That conversation of stereotypes and the abbreviated history of Montreal vis-a-vis Toronto economical/social/political relationships gets told every time.

And there's many Torontonians who think Toronto's a bland and boring city too, despite all the development, growth, bars, restaurants, etc.. They are aware of Montreal as a place of political and linguistic turmoil, but they also acknowledge that it is this unsavory tension that gives Montreal its vivacity in art, music, furniture design, literature and architecture/urbanism.

If Montrealers wish they had Toronto's modernity; Torontonians wish they had Montreal's built in identity - which comes from the tension we all know too well.

When you look at the towers being built in Toronto, think of it as a city trying to find itself, its identity and it's reason for existence. A manufacturing of an identity of a place that's not Montreal, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London or Paris. But remember - this lack of identity makes sense. If the largest city in a country is suppose to be representative of that country, then Toronto's lack of identity make sense. What is the Canadian identity? What does it mean to be Canadian? Tough questions. Even asking those question of 'What does it mean to be a Montrealer' is tough, but you can come up with some thing.

And my stating that Toronto is searching for an identity isn't a knock against the city from an Montrealer, because even Torontonians grapple with "what is TORONTO?"
Just a couple weeks ago Eye Weekly (Toronto version of Montreal Mirror or Voir) held a contest to give Toronto a new nickname, because T.O. and T-Dot were not enough. So they came up with "El Toro" and will be using it strategically in articles in hopes that it sticks. Creating a nickname for yourself and placing it strategically? Even some Torontonians saw that as pathetic.

So, it's fun watching some of these towers go up in Toronto, and watching this place try to find itself. I heard someone say last week, "Toronto in 2011 is like New York was in 1911." I believe there's some truth in that.